Could this be a put-on by some jokester?

The Pentagon spent $6 million to get Italian goats to mate with Afghan goats

April 15, 2016 By Katie 

Lawmakers discussed something so absurd during a House Armed Services hearing on Friday that even they couldn't believe it was reality:

"This is the kind of stuff that belongs on 'Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,' not as a subject of a congressional hearing," said Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., and ranking member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing, referencing a satirical news show on HBO.

The Pentagon spent $6.1 million shipping Italian male goats to Afghanistan to mate with female Afghan goats to make cashmere as one of several initiatives to boost the Afghan economy after the war.

But many of the female goats were infected with a disease that could have wiped out the whole herd, Speier said. As a result, only two of "those fancy Italian goats" are still usable, she said.

"I think we can safely that say manufacturing warm fluffy sweaters is not the key to economic recovery in Afghanistan, nor is it in DoD's expertise," Speier said.

Of course, the failed goat-mating project wasn't the only spectacular waste of taxpayer money in Afghanistan. The Task Force for Business and Stability Operations paid $1 billion for employees to stay in private luxury villas and another $43 million for a gas station.

It's no wonder America's efforts in Afghanistan failed.